Saskatchewan Agriculture's weekly crop report, released yesterday, indicates 65 per cent of the crop has been combined, up 20 percent from last week and well ahead of the five year average.

Shannon Friesen, a Cropping Management Specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture, says yields have all depended on where you were in the province, whether you received moisture, what type of soil you have and if you were able to seed earlier than normal.

Shannon Friesen-Saskatchewan Agriculture

For the most part yields are anywhere from average to below average.

Quality has been very good this year.

Even though the dry conditions didn't really help us out yield wise they certainly did quality wise.

We have seen a lot less issues with weathering, bleaching and staining and with diseases such as fusarium head blight as well.

Some of the crops that first came off were in the south part of the province and a lot of those crops are yielding well below normal, mainly due to the moisture restrictions this year.

Some of those pulse crops, for example, yields were well below average.

We heard from maybe three or four bushels per acre for lentils, maybe up to 20 if you were lucky.

As the harvest went on things did get a bit better and many producers were surprised that we did get as much yield as we did off of many of those fields.

Things looked a lot worse in early August but, as harvest went on, things did improve for us.

Overall things are very variable right across the province but the quality has been excellent, very little weathering, very little disease as well.

While yields aren't there, the quality will hopefully get us some more money at the elevator this year.

Ms Friesen says the sooner the harvest is complete the better and the hope is that things will be wrapped up within the next five to six weeks.